The global rhetoric surrounding the role of private markets in the provision of new housing masks a more complex reality, highlighted in processes of spatial planning, in which public policy and private developers are deeply enmeshed. This paper discusses some of the tensions with the
help of a detailed examination of plans for housing development on the edge of England's growth region (in Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire) during the period 2003–13. It critically reflects on the consequences of pursuing spatial policies that rely on light touch state involvement
in a market shaped by the priorities of powerful corporate actors.

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